Re: Web publishing: which laws apply?

On Thu, 18 Feb 1999, Tyler Ochoa <tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> wrote:
>
> On 02/17/99, James Rogers <jetan[_at_]ionet.net> wrote:
> >
> > On 2/16/99, Tyler T. Ochoa <tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > On 02/15/99, Paul F. Schaffner <pfs[_at_]umich.edu> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > If a U.S. publisher sells access (via the web to a worldwide
> > > > readership) to e-texts of PD works, which laws is the publisher
> > > > obliged to consider when deciding whether the work is PD?
> > > >
> > > > 1. U.S. law only, under the principle of national treatment?
> > > > 2. The laws of the countries in which the works were originally
> > > > published (say, UK and Germany)?
> > > > 3. The laws of the countries in which it has paid subscribers to
> > > > its web distribution service?
> > > > 4. The laws of the countries in which it has affiliates or
> > > > subsidiaries?
> > >
> > > According to Itar-Tass, choice of law for copyright in federal court
> > > in the U.S. is federal common law, which means unless there's a case
> > > directly on point, there is no definitive answer to this question in
> > > the U.S.
> > >
> > > However, I would think that under the principle of national treatment,
> > > No. 3 would be the correct answer. Distribution of copies of a work
> > > or public display of a work is occurring in the country in which the
> > > transmission is received, as well as the country from which the
> > > transmission was sent. So if it were me, I would make sure I checked
> > > to see if the work was in the public domain in the receiving country
> > > as well as in the U.S.
> >
> > Does your answer stay the same if the website is not charging for
> > the downloads (i.e., Project Gutenberg; Litrix, etc.)? If so, all the
> > freebie websites are in serious non-compliance, no?
>
>
> Yes; and yes (at least many of them).

This confirms my suspicion that I have to be careful on showing and sending the public domain materials to other countries. Can anyone recommend any book (such as Nolo Press), article, or treatise that will educate me on how to avoid getting into trouble with other countries?

On every HTML document at my web site, I have the following at the top:

     (Note: This entire HTML document is intended only for people
     who are in the United States of America and live in the same
     country.  If you are not in the U.S.A. and/or do not live in
     the U.S.A., you must not read the following and you must not
     keep any copy of this HTML document.) 

Am I too cautious? Is that notice sufficient? Is it needless? I have no idea. I even make sure that my Internet Service Provider (ISP) is in the U.S. (it is near Philadelphia). Again, any suggestion on learning more about this (other than seeing a lawyer) will be much appreciated by yours truly.

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com> Received on Sat Feb 20 1999 - 05:50:27 GMT